


Send in the clowns

by Amfelia



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 15:59:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13217154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amfelia/pseuds/Amfelia
Summary: Isak owes Eskild a favor, and he decides to collect it at the most inopportune moment.





	Send in the clowns

**Author's Note:**

> So here’s the thing. I am an insomniac. Thankfully not all the time, but for four or five days in a row every few weeks I just can’t seem to sleep for more than a few hours before my body tells me it’s morning, even though it is in the middle of the night. And one, very effective way, to stop my brain from going in fifteen different directions at once, I start making up stories while I wait for sleep to find me again and force my body to relax. Most of the time these stories are total crap, with no start or end, but once in a while they are somewhat usable. 
> 
> This one came to me the a few nights ago, and I decided to write it down the next morning. The jury is still out wether this one is the “usable” category, or not but since I actually finished it I thought I might as well post it.

“No, Eskild, seriously, I am not doing it. You can ask me anything, but not that.” Isak is stomping his foot like a petulant three year old.

“Oh yes, you are doing it. You owe me, remember?” Eskild is not going to give in, standing there with his arms crossed, looking at Isak with stern look in his face.

“I don’t owe you shit.” Yeah, nice try, he thinks to himself. He owes Eskild a lot, more than what he is asking of him right now, they both know it. 

“Sure you do. Remember that one time you managed to lock your self out and I had to get up at three in the morning to open the door for you?” 

“Are you seriously comparing opening the door for me with this?” Isak’s voice almost breaks at the word “this”. 

“Oh, you bet I am. Besides, it wasn’t just opening the door for you. You were drunk out of mind, and I had to carry the dead weight of you up the stairs. And then you proceeded to throw up right outside the apartment door, and guess who had to clean it up? I’ll give you one hint: It wasn’t you.”

“Now you are just lying, that didn’t happen.” Isak already knows he’s lost the battle, but is not about to give up without a fight. 

“Yeah? Is that the way you want to play it?” Eskild pulls out his phone and start going through his messages. He opens up a photo of a sleeping Isak on the floor in the hallway, next to a bucket of water and Eskild clearly doing some cleaning. The picture is time stamped for good measure. 

“And what do we have here?” Eskild question is more of a rhetoric one, because they both know the answer. “Oh, yes, here it is.” He shows Isak the message that is written under the fore-mentioned picture. 

“I, Isak Valtersen owe Eskild Tryggvasson for making him get up in the middle of the night to clean up after his royally drunken fuck up.” Eskild is reading the message out loud, trying but failing to sound like Isak. 

“You wrote that message and sent it to yourself after you hacked my phone. By the way, I have changed the pass code on my phone, so this won’t be happening again.” They have had this discussion about privacy a few times, not that it is helping Isak’s current case in any way. 

“Whatever, either way, I have it here, black on grey, that you owe me a favor. And I have decided it is time to collect it.” 

“But a clown? Really?” Isak is pointing to the clown outfit lying on his bed. “Can’t you get someone else to do this?”

“There is no-one else who can do it on so short notice, you are the only one I know who is this bad at planning his social life, all you were going to do were moping around in the apartment anyway.” Eskild knows how to throw a hard punch just as good as Isak. 

“But why can’t you do the clown-thing and I’ll do whatever it is that has caused this double booking?”

“No can do, baby boy, the other thing is my shift at KB, and we both know you can’t make fancy coffee.”

“Fiiiiine, I’ll do the clown-thing, but after this I will never owe you anything for as long as I live.” 

Eskild just nods his head. “Whatever you say, kiddo. We both know that’s going to change next time you are drunk off your ass anyway.”

So here he is, dressed up as a stupid clown on his way to some stupid kids birthday party. Eskild had assured him that all he had to do was to be there and help around at the party. The other clown the parents had hired would be responsible for the entertaining part of the party. And thank fuck for that, because Isak knows absolutely nothing about how to be funny or whatever clowns do at birthday parties. Lucky for him Eskild has gone all in with the clown make up, so he is hardly recognizable in case he is unlucky enough to meet anyone he knows on his way there. 

Before he enters the house he puts on the ridiculous clown shoes that Eskild had insisted he’d wear. When the doors is opened he is greeted by a clearly stressed out woman, and he is ushered towards the garden with a “thank god you are here, the other clown just came, just go back there and help him set things up, the guests will be arriving in ten minutes”. 

“The other clown” turns out to be a gigantically tall clown. Like really tall. Isak is not short, but this guy, he is at least two inches taller. He turns towards Isak and looks at him, with a frown on his face.

“You are not Eskild.” Not a question, just stating a fact. Ok, nice introduction. Or not. But god, the voice. So deep. And sexy. 

“No, I am not Eskild. I’m Isak, Eskild’s roommate. Eskild couldn’t make it today, so unfortunately you’ll get me instead.” Isak is mildly annoyed, this was not how he saw this going, not exactly of to a good start with his co-clown. 

“Oh. Ok. Have you ever been a clown before?” And oh god, his eyes. He has the bluest eyes on the planet. Isak just knows he is fucked. 

“No, I have no clowning experience. At least not this type of clowning experience.” 

The other guy cracks a smile at his attempt at a joke. 

“Oh, then this is going to be interesting. I am Even, by the way.”

“So, how are we going to do this?” Isak points at the birthday setup in the garden. Judging by the number of chairs around the table, there are going to be at least 20 guests there. 

“Well, normally I would entertain the guests with balloon animals and other types of clownery, and Eskild would take care of the guests and make sure they have food and drinks and don’t do anything stupid like trying to climb the curtains in the living room.” He looks at Isak with a frown in his face. 

“And since I assume you don’t know how to do the balloon animals, and we are outside, I think you better stick to the food and the drinks. Think you can do that?”

“Sure, I can do that.” Isak hopes he sounds more sure than he is, kids are not his strongest suit. 

Before they can do anything else the garden is full of screaming ten year olds and for the next two hours he has his hands full, trying to be as nice as possible and not wring the head of a particularly annoying kid who refuses to listen to any of the messages he is given. 

When the party is finally over and they have been paid (rather well) for their services, they leave together towards the nearest tram stop. 

“So, what did you do to Eskild to make him force you into this?” Even looks at him with a question in his eyes.

“What makes you think I did something?” Isak feigns innocence. 

“You clearly haven’t been a clown before, and you are not really any good at it, so I assume it is not your favorite thing to do. So you must have made some sort of mistake, to give him this kind of leverage over you.”

“Well, I might have forgotten my key one to many times, and made him get up at three in the morning opening the door and helping me get to bed. Or something.” 

Even just laughs. “I guess there is more to the story than that, I’ll get Eskild to tell me next time we work together.” 

Before they can say anything more, Isak’s tram is there and he jumps on, and realizes two minutes later that he forgot to get the guys number. And there is no way he is going to ask Eskild for it. That is just not happening. Well, maybe their paths will cross again, Oslo is not that big. If he only knew what he looks like without the clown costume. 

When he got home Eskild was waiting for him. “So, how was it?”

“I thought you had to work today?” Isak looks at him accusingly.

“Turns out there was a scheduling error, so they let me go home early.” Eskild is quick to reply, and Isak is sure it is a lie.

“Well, are you going to tell me anything? How did it go?” Eskild taps his finger impatiently on the table, still waiting for an answer.

“It was OK. One of the kids was really annoying, but except for that and the costume it wasn’t that bad. Not doing it again, though.” And with that Isak leaves the room to change out of the ridiculous outfit and wash of all the make up that Eskild put on him. 

——————————————

Three weeks later Isak once again finds himself wearing the stupid clown outfit on his way to another birthday party. This time Eskild had blamed it on some sort of family emergency, and since Isak of course owed Eskild, again, he had to step in. He might have not been as difficult to convince this time, but he had put in a decent effort to show his resistance, just for the heck of it. 

Even greets him with a smile. “Halla. So, what did you do this time?” 

“Long story, I’ll tell you afterwards.” Isak doesn’t bother trying to lie, but tries to brush it of nonetheless. 

The party is more or less same procedure as last time, with fewer annoying kids and more time to look at Even making the most ridiculous balloon animals he had ever seen. He is even more attractive this time, and Isak’s heart skips a few beats every time their eyes meet. 

On their way to the tram stop, Even questions Isak’s reasons for having to step in for Eskild again. 

“Oh, it was no biggie. I just didn’t clean up after a pre-game at my place, and he came home late that night to a living room full of beer bottles, and with all the windows open, since my friend Jonas had decided to smoke a little and I didn’t want the room to smell to bad. We live on the third floor, it’s not like it someone would climb through the windows and steal all our stuff, so I can’t see what the big deal is.”

Even is full on laughing at him, but then he gets serious. “Cigarettes or weed?”

“Hm?” Isak doesn’t understand the question. 

“Your friend, Jonas, was he smoking cigarettes or weed?”

“Weed, why you ask?” Isak looks at him like he doesn’t understand what this has to do with him owing Eskild a favor. 

“You are like, seventeen? And you and your friends are smoking weed in Eskild’s living room and you don’t see how that would piss him off?”

“What are you, the moral police or something? I can decide for myself what to do. If I am old enough to live by myself I sure as hell am old enough to smoke some weed if I want to.” 

“Sure, if you say so.” 

And just like that, Isaks tram is there, and just like last time, he completely forgets to get Evens number. He was to pissed about the weed comment to think straight. He of course regrets it as soon as he gets home. There just is something about Even that wants him to spend more time with him. 

When he gets home Eskild is sitting in the living room, as if he was waiting for him. 

“I thought you had a family emergency?” Isak is clearly not impressed with Eskild’s sorry excuse to get out of clown duty. 

“Turns out my mother was exaggerating again. Was more of a family quarrel, and it sorted itself out as soon as I got my mother and my sister talking. Go figure.” Eskild waves his hand in the air, as he was performing some sort of magic.

“Mhm, whatever you say, Eskild.” Isak clearly not buying his lie. “But Eskild?”

“Yes, my little protege?” 

“I just wanted to apologize for the whole ‘leaving the window open and living room in a mess’-incident. It wasn’t cool of me to do that. I am not apologizing for the weed-thing, though.”

Eskild looks up at him with a frown. “What brought this on? Is Isak Valtersen actually apologizing?”

“Well, you better not get used to it. But yes, I am apologizing.”

“Ok. Thank you. Apology accepted then. Wanna watch Netflix with me?” Eskild pats his hand on the sofa, to emphasize his offer. 

“Sure. Just let me wash off this wonderful clown make up first.” The last part of the sentence said while he is walking towards the bathroom, already shedding the costume. 

——————————————

It doesn’t even take two weeks until Isak once again finds himself fully clothed as a clown, walking towards a house, ready to play nice at another kids birthday party. How Eskild managed it this time is beyond him, apparently he just had to do an assignment for class. Isak had put up just enough fight for it to be believable, but his inner kid had jumped up and down of joy. 

“Halla, Even,” he says as he enters the house and sees his favorite clown ready to make fancy balloon animals. 

“Let me guess, Eskild couldn’t come and you owed him another favor? What did you do this time? Forget it was laundry day? Almost burned down the apartment because you wanted pizza when you came home dunk one night, but couldn’t stay awake long enough to take it out of the oven?”

Isak just looks at him with a sassy smile. “Actually, I didn’t do anything this time. He just asked me if I could help him out, since he had an assignment he needed to finish for class, and I didn’t have any plans.”

“Really?” Even raises his eyebrows to show Isak that he clearly doesn’t believe him.

“It’s true! And as if I would ever forget pizza in the oven? I am the master of making late night pizza.” Well, master of burning pizza. If it hadn’t been for the smoke detector Eskild had installed in the kitchen they might have had Oslo’s fire department over for a visit on more than one occasion. But that was on a need to know basis, and Even didn’t need to know.

“Ok, whatever you say, pizza boy. We have a birthday party to entertain, are you ready?” And as soon as the words has left his mouth the kids starts pouring in and for the nest almost three hours they are busy serving hotdogs, drinks, wiping up spilled drinks and comforting a girl crying for spilling ketchup all over her brand new dress. 

As they get ready to leave once the party is over, and Even is collecting all of his balloon equipment, Isak decides this is his chance to do something. At least get his number or something. But before he has the time, Even is the one to take the initiative.

“You know, Isak, if you are planning to make a career out of this clown business you really need to learn how to make these balloon animals.”

“I am not really planning on this being a recurrent event, Even. I am just helping Eskild out. This is probably the last time, so I really don’t see the point?” Isak blurts it out, before he has the time to think. He really should work on his brain to mouth filter when he is around Even.

But Even doesn’t seem to hear him, anyway, just takes Isak’s phone and puts in his number. “Well, in case you change your mind, here’s my number. Text me if you want a one on one balloon teaching session. I have been told I’m a pretty decent teacher.” 

Isak’s heart roars on the inside, but outside he is as cool as a cucumber. Or that is at least what he tells himself. 

“Yeah, can’t see that happening anytime soon, but I’ll let you know if I change my mind.” And with that, he leaves to take the tram home. 

——————————————

Isak tries not to cave in. He really does. But honestly, who is he kidding? He lasts all of four days before he surrenders and texts Even, and the next day he nervously shows up at Evens door. This is going to be one big mistake, Isak has never been good at any thing artsy, he hated arts and crafts in school. And yet here he was, pretending to be interested in learning to making funny animals with balloons. Yeah, fantastic idea Isak Valtersen he tells him self as he is waiting for the door to open. 

He hadn’t told Eskild where he was going, he knew if he did he was never going to hear the end of it. He loves Eskild dearly, but this he has vowed to keep to himself. For ever and ever. 

He is pulled back to reality when he hears a soft “Halla!” and looks up and sees Even in the door. And if he had thought Even looked good dressed as a clown, nothing could have prepared him for this. Isak has temporarily lost the ability to speak, he just stands there, staring at Even. He is the most beautiful human being Isak has ever seen. “Ready for your lesson?” Even wakes him from his reverie, and they walk into Evens apartment. 

“So, I was thinking we should start off with something easy, to let you get the feel of how it works. So the first thing I am going to teach you is how to make a dog. Dogs are really popular at birthday parties, I always have to make at least five each time.”

Isak knows that, he has studied Even making cute little balloon dogs more than he like to admit. 

“So, first we choose which color we want for our animal. Then we use the pump to inflate it. I would not recommend trying to inflate it without a pump, because they are not like normal balloons.”

Isak just stares at Even, trying to get passed his gorgeous hair. My god, he looks ridiculously hot with his hair styled back. But Isak pulls himself together, chooses a blue balloon and tries to copy how Even inflates his.

“You need to leave about to inches from the end, to have something to work with when you form your balloon.” 

Isak looks at his balloon, and realizes that he has put to much air into it, and slowly let som air out and then tie the knot. 

“Easy!”, he says, smiling at Even, trying to act confident. 

“Well, it’s a start, at least. But now comes the real work. We’ll start by creating the head, and you do that by making three basic balloon twists, like this.” 

And before Isak knows it, Even has made three small ball-like things on the knot-end of his balloon. Ok, that doesn’t look that easy. But he gives it a shot, and ends up with something not quite similar to Evens, but not bad either, they are just a bit bigger and uneven. 

“These two are the ears, and this one is the snout.” Even points at the different balls. “And then you just twist these two like this, to make the dogs head.”

And that is where he lost Isak. He just sits there, looking at his three oddly shaped balls and tries to copy what Even just did, but ends up untwisting what he already made and the balloon is back to square one. Fuck. He knew this was going to happen. 

But Even just smiles, and makes him try again. This time the snout and ears are more the correct size. And when he is about to twist the head like Even showed him, Even lies his hands over Isak’s and guides him through it, and before you know it, his balloon has ended up looking like a dogs head. He looks up at Even with a smile that screams pride and gets one in return. 

“Good. Now it is time to make the neck and legs. You do that by making three more balls, just as with the head, but this time they should be about three inches long, like this.” Even quickly twists his balloon, making three more balls, and Isak tries to copy, this time actually managing to make them almost the right size, and proudly shows Even. 

“Perfect! Then you bend this one, and twist and voila, there you have the neck and front legs.” 

Isak copies, fails and tries again, this time with Evens hands helping him, as before. He might have failed on purpose, just to feel Evens hands, he thinks. 

“And now for the rest, you make three more twists, the same size as before, and now you see why we left the end of the balloon without air, right?” He points to the end, that is now completely inflated. 

Isak nods, and makes the rest of the twist, holding it up for Even to see. 

“Perfect. And finally, you just twist here and here, and the dog is ready.”

Isak copies, and actually manages to do it by himself, and holds up his weirdly shaped dog.

“Look, he is as non-straight as me!”, he exclaims, before he suddenly realizes he just came out to Even. Oh, well, it’s not as if it is a big secret, he has been out to his closest friends for a few months already. 

Thankfully Even just snickers. “Well, they do say that dogs and their owners look alike. You are not blue, though.”

They continue making balloon animals and before the lesson is over Isak has learned to make a flower, a giraffe and a sword, although he is much slower than Even. 

When he gets ready to leave, Even leans towards him, and Isak thinks for a second he is about to try to kiss him, but he stops about three inches to soon. “This was fun, we need to do this again. Plenty of more to teach you.” The way he says it though suggest that he is referring to other tings, things that are definitely not balloon related. 

Isak just swallows hard, nods and then turns to leave before Even can see that his cheeks are crimson red. 

——————————————

For some reason Isak decides he wants to practice his balloon animal skills, and after some intense googling he finds just the right store to get supplies and comes home with a bag full of balloons and a pump and he sits down on his bed with youtube ready to check out tutorials. He completely forgets time, and it isn’t before Eskild knocks on his door that his brain registers that this might have been a mistake. Eskild is not supposed to know this. He looks around his bed that is scattered with at least a dozen or so different balloon figures. Eskild knocks again, clearly impatient.

“Yes, what is it?” He practically yells at the door, thank god he remembered to lock it.

“Just wanted to let you know I’m home and check if you want to eat dinner with me?” 

“Sure. I’ll be out in a few minutes.” Isak hopes this is enough to keep Eskild out of his hair. He quickly throws his balloon supplies in his closet and regretfully lets the air out of the already made balloons. But not until he has taken a few photos as proof. They might not be perfect, but they are his. 

“What were you doing in there? Jerking off? Took you forever to come out here.” Eskild is half teasing him, half serious. He loves making Isak uncomfortable, and sure enough, Isak’s cheeks goes completely red.

“Eskild! You know I don’t want to talk to you about that!” 

“Oh, come on, let me have a little fun. You have been so secretive lately, just give me this.” Eskild pouts. 

“I am not secretive just because I want some privacy. Seriously, Eskild. You are not my dad.”

“What ever you say, kiddo. Lets eat and watch TV.” They spend the rest of the evening watching stupid stuff on TV and Isak is grateful Eskild doesn’t bring up clowning, Even or jerking off anymore. 

———————————

Two days later Isak gets a message from Even, wanting to know if he wants another lesson. Isak’s reply is far too eager for his own good, of course he wants to see Even again. But he doesn’t tell him that he’d been practicing, he wants that to be a surprise. 

When he arrives at Evens door this time he is almost as nervous as the last time, and it seems that Even can sense that, and offers him something to drink first. The coffee seems to calm his nerves and they settle on the floor, balloons all around them.

“So, I was thinking we should start by trying to make the same ones I showed you last time, to see how much you remember. Ok?”

Isak just nods, picks up a red balloon, inflates it and starts to make a dog. He pretends to hesitate a little, but quickly makes a near perfect dog. Even is surprised, but doesn’t comment on it. Isak then starts to make a sword, but when he i finished he looks up at Even who is just laughing at him. 

In between laughs, he manages to gasp out: “Isak, that is not a sword.” 

“What do you mean, not a sword. This is how you showed me last time, isn’t it?” 

He just stares at his sword, and then he realizes his mistake. 

“Oh. I forgot the handle, didn’t I?” 

“Yeah, and without the handle that thing is not appropriate for a kids birthday party.” 

Isak suddenly realizes what he just made. Without the handle it just looks like something completely different, and he can feel his cheeks getting warm. “Well, then, I guess I just have to give this thing to Eskild then. I am sure he would appreciate it.”

“Eskild? You want to give your balloon dick to Eskild? I thought you two are just roommates?” Even seems confused. And if Isak didn’t know any better he would say he was hurt, almost. 

“You think me and Eskild? No, no, god no. Never. He is so not my type.” Isak shakes his head. 

“So, what is your type then?” Even is suddenly very serious. 

“My type?” Isak manages to get out. “I don’t know. Not Eskild for sure.” 

But then, all of a sudden he finds a courage he didn’t know he had. 

“I think my type is more like, you know, you.” 

“Yeah?” Even just looks at him, with his eyebrows raised, questioning him, happiness written all over his face. 

“Yeah.” Isak manages to almost whisper, and inches closer to Even, as to give him permission to kiss him. Which Even does. It is the sweetest kiss Isak ever imaged, and he really doesn’t want it to stop. 

When they pull apart, they just stare at each other for a while. It is Even who speaks first. “God, I’ve wanted to do this since the first time I saw you.”

“I was dressed as a freakin clown the first time you saw me, no way you wanted to kiss me then.” 

Even just shakes his head, in disbelief. “That wasn’t the first time I saw you, Isak.”

Irak looks at Even with a confused look, like he doesn’t understand what he is saying. “What? Had you seen me before that first birthday party?”

“Yes, first time I saw you was when you were at KB buying coffee with Eskild. I was the one who made your coffee.” Even looks softly at Isak, while brushing away a curl from Isak’s face. 

“Oh.” Isak blushes. And then he realizes something. “Wait, what? You work with Eskild? At KB?” 

“Yes, we have worked together for more than a year. That’s how this whole clown business started. He didn’t tell you?”

Oh, he had most definitely not told Isak. 

“And after I saw you that first time, I bugged him for information about you until he decided it was time for us to meet. The clown part of it was his idea, though. I didn’t have anything to do with that, I promise.”

Isak was without a doubt having words with Eskild later. But first he had more important things to do. Like kissing. Lots and lots of kissing.


End file.
